Be
Studio album by Common
Released	May 24, 2005
Recorded	2004–2005 Sony Music Studios (New York, New York) Encore Studios (Burbank, California) Pay Jay (Clinton Township, Michigan)
Genre	Hip hop, neo soul, quiet storm, jazz rap, spoken word
Length	42:33
Label	GOOD, Geffen
Producer	Kanye West, J Dilla
Common chronology
Electric Circus (2002) Be (2005) Finding Forever (2007) Singles from Be "The Food" Released: October 8, 2004 "The Corner" Released: March 1, 2005 "Go!" Released: June 14, 2005 "Testify" Released: September 27, 2005 "Faithful" Released: October 8, 2005

Be is the sixth studio album by American rapper Common, released May 24, 2005 on GOOD Music and Geffen Records. Primarily produced by hip hop artist Kanye West, the album peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart and it is Common's second album to sell over 500,000 copies (over 800,000 copies sold). Be was also a critical success, receiving general praise and accolades from several critics and music publications. The album received a perfect "XXL" rating from hip hop publication XXL magazine.^[1]

Conception [edit]

Background [edit]

Be was touted as Common's comeback album after the commercially disastrous Electric Circus. His previous album lacked promotion following MCA Records's absorption under Geffen. His new alliance with Kanye West helped to spark public interest in the project, as the album was produced by West and released by his own label GOOD Music. The results show that Common was clearly aware, and perhaps agreeing, with the negative criticisms about Electric Circus. In comparison to that album, Be is lean, immediate, and commanding, yet also restrained in its musical ambitions. Many^[who?] believe it to be his safest album, although Brooklyn native rapper Israel The ILLa Real has stated that Be has influenced him in making his first album "I Fell In Love With H.E.R." Of the reaction to the album, the rapper said: "I don't think Electric Circus was as focused. Though I'd done some progressive hip-hop, people know me as the b-boy. When I showed them something different, a different style of b-boy, there were like, "Hold up. You can be Afrocentric, but what's this rock shit that you're doing?"^[2] Many of the beats created by West, and which Common rejected for the project, later appeared on West's studio album Late Registration.

Title significance [edit]

In an interview with AllHipHop.com, Common denied that the album title stood for "Before Erykah."^[3] Common explained the concept and the album title in a 2005 interview for SixShot.com:

“

I named it Be to be who you are, man, and be able to be in the moment and not try too hard. Be is another way of saying just do without trying hard, like I said, natural and be true to the core of who you are; and this album, I wanted to just be and not just go and exist as just an artist, not worried about the past.[4]

”

Singles [edit]

"The Corner" [edit]

Common gave his reasons for featuring controversial spoken word recording artists, The Last Poets, on the album's first official single, "The Corner": "They gifted at writing. They voices is incredible. They took my song to a higher level. And that's what hip-hop was about to me. It would have a message. It would take you to the next place. It was fresh as people say -- something new. They brought newness to what "The Corner" was and they also brought some nostalgia, too. Just them being from the '70s and being used in hip-hop and their spirit brought something pure to it. They gave me a better understanding of the corner after that. I knew those who had been listening to hip-hop would know who the Last Poets were and if they didn't they would feel it in their souls sooner or later. And I also felt good about introducing some of the youth to the Last Poets."^[2]

"Go!" [edit]

	"Go!" excerpt From the album Be
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

"Go" was the album's second, and highest charting single. The song featured Kanye West and John Mayer, however all the verses are performed by Common. The video for the song included shots of Common surrounded by numerous models.

"Testify" [edit]

The album's third single, "Testify" received a type of promotional video known as a "mini-movie"; a term coined by Michael Jackson to describe a music video with a complex plot and a suitably long running time, often with intermissions between the song's parts. The video featured acting parts from Taraji P. Henson, Bill Duke, Steve Harris, and Wood Harris, and received notable spins on specialist channels such as MTV2. The song samples "Innocent Til Proven Guilty" by Honey Cone.

Reception [edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(83/100)[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[6]
Robert Christgau	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[8]
The Guardian	[9]
Paste	(6/10)[10][5]
Pitchfork Media	(8.6/10)[11]
PopMatters	[12]
RapReviews	(8/10)[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
Slant Magazine	[15]
Stylus Magazine	C+[16]
Yahoo! Music UK	[17]

Critical response [edit]

The album so far has a score of 83 out of 100 from Metacritic based on "universal acclaim".^[5] XXL gave it a score of XXL (equivalent to all five stars) and said, "While label support and the times heavily influence whether great music can be crowned a classic, if nothing else Common has created a flawless album. By giving us himself completely and speaking to and for us as complete people, he's birthed the total package. Common has raised the bar. Hopefully, a year from now we'll look back and see that MCs have been rhyming like Common since.^[18] Vibe gave it a score of four-and-a-half stars out of five and said that it "gets to the root of human experience--all the while staying beautifully soulful and funky."^[19] The New York Times gave it a favorable review and said it was "certainly a triumph, but if it isn't quite the all-time classic Common was hoping for, that's because it sounds a bit too straightforward."^[20] Tiny Mix Tapes gave it a score of three-and-a-half out of five stars and said, "Regardless of the modernist leanings of Kanye's techniques, the album retains an organic feel that rivals Com's hemp beanie and Erykah Badu's incense."^[21] Q also gave Be four-and-a-half out of five stars and considered it to be Common's best album.^[5]

Common's lyrics on Be earned him the Lyricist of the Year award at the 2006 BET Hip Hop Awards. In 2012 Complex called the album one of the classics of the last decade.^[22]

Grammy Nominations [edit]

Be was nominated for four 2006 Grammy Awards:

• Best Rap Album, for Be

• Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "The Corner" (featuring The Last Poets) (from Be)

• Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, for "They Say" (featuring Kanye West and John Legend) (from Be)

• Best Rap Song, for writing "Testify" (from Be)

Track listing [edit]

Charts [edit]

Singles [edit]

(*) designates lists that are unordered.

Accolades [edit]

The information regarding accolades attributed to Be is adapted from AcclaimedMusic.net.^[23]

Unused Tracks [edit]

• So Cool (produced by Sa-Ra) appears on the import version of the album.
• My Way Home (produced by Kanye West) appears as a Common solo track on Kanye West's album Late Registration.
• Be (Intro) (produced by J Dilla) appears on the mixtape Laced With Gems by DJ Eves.
• Pimpin' (produced by J Dilla) appears on the mixtape Laced With Gems by DJ Eves.

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Be at Metacritic
• XXL Calls 'Be' a Classic
• Common Hoping To Get Kanye To Work On His New Album Tentatively Titled "Finding Forever"